Web Appreciation

IT'S HARD TO BELIEVE that just ten years ago, most people had never heard of the Internet. In 1992, a few digerati, scientists and government researchers used e-mail and the Internet, but for most people, it basically didn't exist. 

I was reminded earlier this week just how powerful and wonderful the web really is. My 13-year-old son, Kenny -- who doesn't remember a world without the web -- came to me with a question. 

Kenny has a classmate who says his mom won a Winter Olympics gold medal in the 1960s. He asked if I would search the Internet to find out if that was true. Personally, I was skeptical. When I was a lad, some kids made up all kinds of fantastic tales about how famous or rich or adventurous their dads and moms were. 

My son didn't know the mom's name, nor did he know the sport. He did know his friend's last name.  

I opened Google and entered what I knew: the kid's name; the words "Winter Olympics"; and the name of the town we live in: "Los Gatos." 

In five seconds, I was able to prove that -- much to my surprise -- Kenny's friend was actually telling the truth! 

I was able to find this out even though the mom had a different name when she competed, and even though I didn't have much information. 

Even a jaded veteran like me had to stop and appreciate the incredible power of the web. It's so cheap and so powerful that we take for granted our ability to find out almost anything anytime and at little cost. What will the world be like when every person has access?

(By the way: The mom's maiden name was Peggy Fleming -- the 1968 gold medallist in figure skating and easily the most famous American winter Olympian ever.)

Why Not a Tang Room?

The Japanese National Space Development Agency (NASDA), which is responsible for building the Kibo laboratory module of the International Space Station, are thinking about also building a traditional Japanese tea room for the station. Tea ceremony experts from the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music are working on the design. Of course, there will have to be modifications. First, paper walls aren't going to cut it. Second, the tea will have to be served in plastic tubes. And, finally, signs should be posted in both English and Russian asking visitors to kindly remove their space boots before entering. 

I Want This Car

Inventor Karl Lamb is working on a relatively old idea that has long existed in labs and in the dreams of engineers, but never introduced in the Real World: magnetically levitating trains. "MagLev" trains use magnets to hover, smooth out rides, cut down on power consumption and enable higher speeds. To demonstrate his apparently unique approach, which is called "Levx," Lamb created a demo that involves a magnetically levitating Corvette! My take: Forget the train. I want the car! 

Proof You Can Buy Anything on the Web

If you're looking for coffee with that extra certain "something," then Raven's Brew Coffee has just the thing. They sell coffee that has been, ahem!, "processed" by a strange marsupial called a palm civet. Apparently palm civets feed on coffee in Java, Sumatra, and Sulawesi. But not just any coffee. They eat only ripe coffee "cherries." Locals follow palm civets around and collect the beans after being partially digested. The beans are roasted and sold for $75 per quarter pound. That's some pretty expensive $#@!

Shameless Self-Promotion

Hewlett-Packard is a great company, but should get out of the consumer PC business immediately. Here's why.

Listen to Mike's List every week on the Radio! Now Craig Crossman's Computer America features Mike's List content on every show (and I join Craig live on the first broadcast Sunday of every month). You can hear Computer America on your local Business TalkRadio station or over the Internet each Sunday from 1pm to 3pm Silicon Valley Time. Don't miss Computer America!

Follow-Up

Issue 29 featured Rune's Barf Bag Collection, but Mike's List reader (and Open Directory Project Volunteer Editor) Bruce Perdue points out, there's plenty more where that came from!

Have you seen additional coverage of a Mike's List item? Let me know! 

Reader Web Site o' the Week

Fly Williams is the name of a funk band in Chicago that includes my good friend, brilliant saxophonist and Mike's List reader John Schnackenberg. John and I were in high school band together, after which I quit playing and he didn't. ("Schnack" even brought his sax to the prom -- and possibly even a girl as well.) John is the best horn blower I know -- which says a lot, because I know lots of people here in Silicon Valley who are very good at blowing their own horns. Fly Williams is playing in Chicago tonight at the Green Dolphin Street jazz club and later elsewhere. 

Get YOUR web site on the high-traffic Mike's List Reader Links page. HERE'S HOW! 

Gotta-Get-It Gadgets

Remember the "Universal Translator" in the original Star Trek series? Though even the most far-flung aliens spoke perfect California English, every once in a while the crew would encounter beings so backward they actually spoke another language. In those cases, Spock would talk into a gadget that looked like a karaoke microphone, and out would come the language of the alien creature. In one famous scene, Captain Kirk wanted to talk to a creature made of electricity. When Spock told him the creature's method of communication was so totally different and mysterious that the Universal Translator wouldn't work, Kirk barked out: "I don't care. Fix it!" And so Spock took out a screwdriver and modified the device so it worked perfectly with the alien language. Well, now there's a real Universal Translator you can buy. The UT-103, made by Ectaco Inc., translates English, French, German and Spanish on the fly. More European languages and several Asian languages will soon be added. And if there's a language it doesn't support, you can just take out a screwdriver and fix it. 

Have you seen an amazing new toy? Let me know! 

Wacky Web Sites

If you enjoy sending messages to strangers in strange bathrooms -- I know I do -- then you'll love the Foo Bathroom Display web site. Someone hooked up a small monitor in an M.I.T. bathroom that's connected to the Internet. You visit this web site, enter your message, and it shows up in this bathroom. 

Here's a little man that pushes your browser around. 

MobileSpam is a hoax site that many take seriously. It pretends to represent a company that enthusiastically sends huge quantities of spam to cell phones, PalmPilots and other mobile devices. The whole thing is a joke, folks. (Make sure you check out their "privacy policy.") 

Realize your Winter Olympic dreams from the comfort of your own PC with this virtual Curling game from Electric Scotland. 

You've got disks! AOL pushes new versions of its software by "disk-spamming" the universe, sending AOL installation CDs out with magazines and software, stacking them up at music store cash registers and giving them away on airplanes with bags of peanuts. Two guys are tired of it all, and want to get even. And you can help. Send all your AOL CDs to them, and when they get a million CDs, they're going to dump them at the front door of AOL's Virginia headquarters. 

Build your own r2d2!

These Lego people must be stopped! One maniac built a Legos robot that can solve Rubik's Cube puzzles using robot arms, one video-camera eye and color-recognition software.

No, "Pixelvision" is not blurry eyesight caused by staring at your PC's monitor all day. It's a toy video camera made by Fisher-Price in the late 1980's. The toy failed in the market and was scrapped. But it has since been picked up by avant garde artists who make short films with it. Naturally, those films are showing up on the web. 

Somebody is taking bets on when O.J. will kill again. The site is called -- what else? -- WhenWillOJKillAgain.com

If you type a lot, and want public recognition for it, here's a web site that logs how many keys you type. The web site keeps track and lists, in order, the top typers. Why? I have no idea. 

 If you see a really crazy web site: Let me know! 

Reader Comment

"Mike, I just a quick note to say that I don't know where you get your information, but it's more than a little interesting...I subscribe to a dozen or more newsletters and the stories you've noted about Ziff Davis (nearly) going bankrupt, Microsoft's interest in buying Disney, etc., I've seen no where else...fascinating stuff...are you now the "official" Matt Drudge of the tech industry?"
Basil Johnson

"Mike, I wanted to let you know that our Silicon Valley Cultures Project website has been updated, and it includes our preliminary findings from the study of dual-career families in Silicon Valley. Keep your eyes on the SVCP site over the next few months since the first book in our planned series, Cultures@SiliconValley (Stanford University Press), is due to be published in the very near future."
Jan English-Lueck
Silicon Valley Cultures Project 

I get hundreds of reader e-mail messages per week, so I can publish only a tiny fraction of them. I reserve the right to edit letters for length and clarity. Send comments to: [email protected]

Last Week's Mystery Pic

No, it's not the Teletubbymobile, illegitimate offspring of Herbie the Love Bug or even a mobile Japanese love hotel as suggested by some readers. Last week's Mystery Pic showed a hamster-powered car, which won a prize at the recent Tokyo Idea Olympics sponsored by Toyota (which so far has not announced any new car lines based on the idea). Hamsters run on tiny treadmills inside the car, which generates electricity for the car's motor. Congratulations to Michael Jarrett for being first with the right answer. 

 Have you seen an amazing, hard-to-identify picture? Let me know!

Mystery Pic o' the Week

What is it? Send YOUR guess to [email protected]. If you're first with the right answer, I'll print your name in the next issue of Mike's List!

Mike's List User Manual

If you'd like to get Mike's List on your PDA using AvantGo, here's how to do it. First, create an account at AvantGo if you haven't already done so, and download and install the software. Click on the "Create Channel" button on the right, put "Mike's List" in the title field and the following address in the URL field: http://www.mikeslist.com/current.htm. Click "Save Channel." Whenever I upload a new issue, you'll get it automatically when you sync your Palm or Pocket PC!